Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Poured from a bomber into a mug, the beer is a very dark, brown-to-black coloring with ruby highlights around the edges and a thick, dense, small bubbled, creamy, light tan colored head. Looks great. Aromas of bitter coffee, tangy sweet cream, vanilla notes, woody character, and hints of booze. Surprisingly tangy sweet nose. Flavors are rich and smooth, with a creamy undertone that really mellows everything out and makes this beer so easy to drink that it's scary. Wow. Coffee and char first and foremost, providing bitterness, but also some roast and depth to the palate overall. The sweet and rich cream notes come on a bit towards the end to smooth out the rough edges and keep the drinkability up. Smooth bodied, with hints of dryness. The aftertaste is like coffee ice cream, both bitter and rich. Surprisingly sharp, clean, crisp finish, with only a hint of creamy linger. Solid brew! (894 characters)

Pours nice and dark, with a small chocolate head. Not much in the smell, small hints of coffee and chocolate. Not a lot of coffee in the taste, which is disappointing. Nice amounts of malt. Doesn't taste light a stout which also is disappointing. I'd get this again if it was at a very good price. (301 characters)

A: Poured from the bottle into a Sam Smith's nonic-style pint glass. Body is black in the glass, but brown on the edges with some ruby hues when backlit. A small milk chocolate-colored head settles on top, leaving behind decent legs of lace.

S: Not terribly strong in the nose at all - some licorice, some molasses, some generic roasty malt. Not getting coffee at all, which is unusual for a coffee stout.

T: Roasty malt - with roasted coffee beans (there's the coffee!). Earthy, piney hops. A touch of milk chocolate or cocoa powder on the back of the mouth, with more cocoa perceived as it warms. Finishes with a good lingering bitterness, however; a combination of roasty, earthy and piney.

M: A little thin for an Imperial/Double Stout, heft-wise; call it medium-bodied. Carbonation is sharp and active and seems to work well with the flavors for some reason.

O: Good. More like a cross between an Imperial Porter and an American Black Ale than an Imperial/Double Stout, so judged to style it loses points. But I enjoyed it, especially at the price point (I think I paid $2.99 for the bomber a few weeks ago as a special; wishing now that I'd bought more). . . . (1,171 characters)

A: Nearly black. Well carbonated (though its so dark that you can only tell by looking down at the top of the glass to see it bubbling up). Dark brown foam thin foam with large bubbles that mostly disappeared quickly.

S: Bitterweet chocolate and cocoa from the roasted grain. A touch of vanilla.

T: Both sweet and bitter at the same time. The bitterness balances the huge roasted malt flavor. The bitterness fades quickly leaving a rich sweet chocolate. The coffee flavor from beginning to end goes without mention. Alcohol taste persists once the bitterness fades.

M: Great body. It had a good lightness from the light bitterness that keeps it from feeling too chewy. It drinks like a lighter beer despite being an imperial stout. The high alcohol is covered wonderfully,

O: One of the more drinkable imperial stouts I've had. The sheer drinkability alone is winning me over. The taste is nicely balanced but the coffee addition feels a little like cheating. Well, if you aren't picky about the coffee it really is a good down to earth beer. (1,046 characters)

22 ounce bottle into snifter, no bottle dating. Pours fairly pitch black color with a 1 finger dense dark tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of dark chocolate, roasted coffee, cocoa, roasted malt, char, toast, floral, pine, and roasted earthiness. Nice aromas with good strength and balance of roasted malt and coffee notes; decent complexity. Taste of dark chocolate, roasted coffee, roasted malt, cocoa, light char, floral, pine, and roasted earthiness. Light roasted coffee and pine bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, char, toast, dark bread, floral, pine, and roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice balance of roasted malt and coffee flavors; with a fair amount of robustness and zero cloying flavors present after the finish. Medium carbonation and body; with a fairly creamy and lightly prickly mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a pretty good imperial stout. Not very complex; but has a good balance of dark malt and coffee flavors; and is very smooth to sip on. An enjoyable offering. (1,230 characters)

App- When this arrived it looked more like a porter to me than a stout. A bit more dark browns mixed in with some reds and a bit of lighter edges didnt do to much for this one. A small maybe 1/4" head was there and then gone. Didnt really deliver much looks in a pint glass.

Smell- This was a little better than average but not too much was here. Smelled like a porter to me as well. A little leaning to the more malty side with a bit of roast and say pine nuts. I didn't pick up on too much chocolate or any other sweeter flavors.

Taste- This was more akin to a porter to me. More malty and nutty driven. A little unbalanced and cold. A little hoppy and didnt really deliver the roasty or chocolate/vanilla double stout flavors that I was hoping. A pretty average stout. Even as it warmed there was just not a whole lot of flavor to this beer.

Mouth- A little bit more of a medium body with a thinner medium carbonation. This was the better part of the beer actually. A bit of residual malts is all that was left over.

Drink- It was better than average but not by much. Small malts dominated this flavors with some nutty accompaniment but not much else. Probably wont come back to this one. (1,274 characters)

Appearance: Pours a dark brown color with tawny highlights; the tan cap pancakes on the liquid and leaves a few shards of foam sticking to the glass

Smell: Coffee and chocolate, with charcoal undertones

Taste: The hops dominate the flavor profile, bringing a bitter, piney cast; by mid-palate, the malts eke out their place, with chocolate, molasses and charcoal elements; after the swallow, however, while the malts underpin, the hops return to dominate the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body; somewhat creamy; moderate carbonation

Overall: The dominance of the hops creates an unbalanced effect, making it more like an American Black than an Imperial Stout; must be a very fresh bottle that needs some time to settle down (730 characters)

Pours a slightly darker almost mocha colored 1/3 finger fizzy head that fades fairly quickly, with a bit of lacing and decent legs, over pitch black beer.

Nose starts with roast and coffee, fresh roasted and ground coffee beans and light espresso, a bit of roasted malt, some powdered cocoa, dark chocolate a bit, a bit of a syrupy candy like addition too, a slight mineral quality.

Taste starts rich and thick, a bit syrupy and fairly sweet, with big malts, fluffy nougat like, light roasted malt, touch of powdered cocoa, just a little coffee and roasted coffee grinds but barely any, syrupy caramel and candy syrup like flavors too. The booze cuts in warming and tingly, and a bit of a boozy taste even. I think a hint of earthy hops add bitterness, but hard to tell if that's more from the roasted malts. A bit more minerality as well, that turns slightly metallic and just a touch acrid. The earthy spicy hops come through a lot more as it finishes, which is sticky sweet, syrupy, a bit more booze taste, and some lingering syrupy roast and touch powdered cocoa. A light acrid taste later on the finish too.

Overall, OK but not great. The coffee only really came out on the nose, and it gets a bit mineraly and slight metallic acrid taste. The thick rich over syrupy flavor and taste isn't great either, and the booze taste is also not great. NO date on it, but I just picked it up recently so it can't be too old. The syrupy flavors and thick richness and booze makes me want to sit on it for a while, but the lack of coffee doesn't make me think it ages at all. Fairly meh. (1,674 characters)

A - Pours virtually black with a finger of light brown head that fades rather quickly.

S - The smell is very coffee forward, with some hints of dark chocolate notes.

T/M - Hmmm, the flavor isn't really matching the smell like I hope it would. There's an overpowering bitterness that's kinda like a combination of a weird hop flavor, and cold bitter coffee. Missing all the roasty dark malts that I like in my stouts. Medium mouthfeel.

O - A swing and a miss for me as a coffee stout.The stout wasn't thick enough for me, the flavors were fighting each other, and it just wasn't as big as I would've liked. On the plus, the 9% ABV is undetectable! (699 characters)

Review from 3/2010 notes. Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a dark brown with a thin tan head and light lacing. Aroma of roasted malt and coffee, chocolate. Coffee and smokey malt start, astringent middle and astringent, slightly hoppy and sour finish. Got better as it warmed up, but not really that smooth. A light to medium body. OK, but not very well balanced. (370 characters)

A - Pours a medium tan head that has good retention and leaves a thick ring as it settles. The beer is dark brown/black and almost opaque, but there is a little light coming through the top.

S - The nose has strong chocolate notes along with some coffee and lightly roasted malts.

M - Medium to full in body. Just a little thin for an imperial stout in my opinion. The carbonation is low-medium and works well with the beer.

T - A dose of chocolate strikes first and linger mid-taste. Some roasty malts are detectable mid-taste followed by subtle coffee flavors and dark chocolate rounding out the taste.

Not bad, but I thought the coffee flavor was lacking and it was missing some other component. The chocolate flavor is the most prominent throughout. On the positive side the alcohol is undetectable. (807 characters)

- Pours a very pretty jet brown... couple good fingers of rich mocha colored head which fizzled down nicely to a large ring of lace, and a steady island of thick foam.. bubbled like a lot of barrel aged stouts bubble.. but left more behind.

- Quite the coffee touch.. light notes with a touch of sweet chocolate, grainy bready malt.. but not a heavy malt taste. All rather light. This doesn't taste like a 9% alc. stout at all... in fact, I don't think it even is.. maybe 7.5% if lucky. Tastes like a good solid standard stout.

- Bit thin for an imperial stout.. not much on a heavy grain or body like I would expect. Bit drying from the bitterness both from coffee and hop. Leaves behind a slightly chalky film.

- Overall it's a tasty stout, and drinks quite easily.. but it's thin, and is lacking some very important imperial stout qualities. I am sure a pint from the pubs would be better... but if anything, it's just a regular everyday 'slightly' stronger stout. Certainly isn't 9% as stated. Perhaps a miss reading, or the yeast didn't do much for it.. or it was too late to fix the labeling. (1,277 characters)

Pours out a dark brown color, great looking wisp of tan head to it, rings around the tulip glass. Aroma, dry coffee.

Taste, reminiscient of Coffee Bender right off the bat, and that's a damn good beer. But that calls itself a brown, this an imperial stout. Regardless, good, who cares about the classification all that much. I'd say substantial viscosity for a brown ale, a little thin for an imperial stout. Coffee is a little muted compared to Coffee Bender, not that smash in your face roast, but a little more mellow, very dry.

Hides the alcohol amazingly well, was shocked to see that this is 9%. Would have guessed 6-6.5% frankly. And at only $4.49 from John's in Portland, geez you can't go wrong.

Some might make hay about their corporate ownership or something like that, but just enjoy a damn good beer at a damn good price already. Our first beer of the night last night, how often can you start out with a 9% beer? (931 characters)

Black as black can be, the head might be short but the retention and stickage is nothing less than great. Aroma of freshly used coffee grounds, blackberries and a faint, smoky burnt grain as well. Super creamy with a smoothness that has some depth. Coffee flavor peaks right away along with the malt sweetness that resembles burnt sugar. More of a roasted note settles in the middle. A little molasses and charcoal. Hops are modest yet balancing. Burnt figs, a linger of coffee and an even, roasted flavor delve deep into the finish.

A good Impy Coffee Stout, the addition of oats without a doubt holds this beer together and bumps up the level of quaffing. A worthy seasonal. (734 characters)

Bomber poured into my Delirium snifter, Goose Bump is very dark brown with a tight tan head that leaves gorgeous rings of thick foamy lace.

Smell is coffee, more like the grounds, a nice acridness to it, toffee as it warms, a hint of buttery diacetyl.

Taste is big coffee, wow. Very nice for coffee fans, pure and intense. The sweetness pokes out as I adjust to the bitterness of the coffee, light fusels creeping out as well, although the alcohol is fairly smooth overall.

Mouthfeel is oily, a nice viscosity to it, with a great creaminess.

Drinkability is great if you liked coffee, which is so strong in this one that you could probably served it to some one in Starbucks sippy cup and they'd think it's some kind of iced coffee drink. Smooth, tasty, and a great value, there's nothing not to love about this if you like strong coffee stouts. Well done. (864 characters)

(If you don't like coffee you will not like this beer as it is made with coffee beans--as indicated on the label.)

I acquired a 22 of Mac's Goose Bump recently while in Portland.

Poured out it is pitch black with somewhat normal viscosity for an Imperial Stout. It has a very nice dark tan head; very appealing in the cup.

The aromas I picked up are most notably coffee and dark chocolate. There is some vanilla too. Other than coffee, this beer is not particulary fragrant.

Upon sipping, the first flavor to hit me was coffee then vanilla then some malt and roasted barley, then finishingly strongly with coffee and a bite of hops. Coffee, however, is present from start to finish and is the most dominant flavor. In fact, the expected hop and yeast bite typical of Imperial Stouts is actually about 75% masked by the coffee. This is not bad though. The coffee is remarkably complimentary to the strength of the stout.

In the mouth it is very smooth and creamy. Excellent.

Goose Bump has a nice warm feel from alcohol as well.

Overall, this is the best coffee-flavored beer I've ever had. I've tried espresso stouts, coffee porters, etc., but this is the best...and I'm not even a coffee drinker. The coffee is strong but it goes so well with this particular stout, which is reminiscent of Mac's Blackwatch Porter. For an I.S. this is very drinkable as it is nowhere as overwhelming and intense as that of other breweries. If you can find it, pick one up! (1,464 characters)

22 oz bomber. Great looking beer black as far as my eye can see..with a large tight bubbly tan head Aromas of dark chocolate and dark roasted coffee, the aroma though doesnt jump out at ya. The taste however does jump out at ya! Very good dark roast coffee flavours, with roasted,burnt oat, dark dried fruits, and some resin like hopping in the background. Great mouthfeel on this one, pretty smooth yet with loads of stuff going on. Overall very good from Macs. Not top class but very good coffee flavours IMO. For $2.99 this is excellent value (545 characters)